The invention relates to a theft deterrent device to be used with surface mounted small appliances, computers, display objects or other such appliance-like items of value. There is a significant risk of theft when such items are located where a theft could occur during unattended hours such as an office environment, or when such items are positioned in places of risk because of ease of access to the item, no alarms or monitoring devices, large crowds or crowd confusion such as retail stores, museums, trade shows, or the like. Because of their relatively small size, these items may be easily removed from their location and sold for a quick cash sale. The increasing numbers of surface mounted computers and small appliances in the work place and educational facilities is creating an ever increasing base from which thefts can and do occur.
Prior art theft protection and locking devices for such appliance-like items, particularly office equipment items, have attempted to provide various mechanisms for securing the items to a surface. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,744,282, 3,910,079, 3,990,276, and 4,066,231 all describe devices for locking office equipment to a table top surface. While such theft protection devices offer varying degrees of theft protection for the item, the items are frequently mounted on desks, counters and tables and other surfaces that have an aesthetically pleasing and smooth work surface and all of these prior art theft protection devices involve significant and irreparable alteration to the surface on which the item is mounted. In particular, all of these theft protection devices require that a relatively large hole be drilled in the surface on which the item is mounted so that some type of anchoring mechanism, such as a bolt or cable, may be passed through the hole to be secured to the bottom side of the surface. As a result, once the theft protection device is installed on a surface, it can not be removed because of the large anchor hole created in the surface.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have an appliance theft deterrent device for securing small appliances or the like to a tabletop or countertop surface that could provide adequate theft deterrence without damaging the tabletop or countertop surface on which the appliance is mounted.